Red Sox-Dodgers at L.A. Coliseum: Great spectacle, not-so-great TV

It takes a lot to lure me from an NCAA Basketball Tournament telecast (North Carolina-Louisville were battling on CBS), but thanks to DirecTV and the New England Sports Network I found myself watching exhibition baseball (and changing channels during commercials).

The Red Sox and Dodgers played late Saturday night at the L.A. Coliseum. The game, for which 115,300 tickets were sold, was to help commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Dodgers’ move from Brooklyn.

Because of the Coliseum’s football configuation — which became even tighter when the track was removed a couple of decades ago — the backstop was about 15 feet behind home plate. The left-field fence was just 200 feet from home plate, and even with a 62-foot-high screen, it was still inviting to the batters.

The Dodgers didn’t even put a player in left field. They figured the shortstop could retrieve balls off the screen, and accordingly shifted their outfielders to the right.

A one-time event such as this did have the expected bugs.

Poles holding up the makeshift backstop frequently blocked camera angles. The standard center-field view of pitcher/batter/catch/umpire had to be altered. The camera was to the left side of second base — the way games from Yankee Stadium were produced cast a generation ago — which was fine, except the second-base umpire kept blocking the view. NESN had no other camera options.

“I’m going to run down and tell the umpire to get out of camera shot,” NESN analyst Jerry Remy joked. “We can’t see the pitches.”

The broadcasters were in the football press box, which was along the right-field line. On an popout that ended the top of the first inning, NESN announcer Don Orsillo called it a pop fly to shortstop Rafael Furcal. It was a foul out in front of the first-base dugout.

“It gives you an idea of our vantage point,” Orsillo said after admitting his error in the bottom of the first.

I went to bed long before the final out (although the DVR was rolling), but I have to admit it was the most I’ve enjoyed an exhibition game all spring.